Apple is expected to introduce a massive MacBook Pro redesign later this year, and photos recently published by Cult of Mac all but confirm it will feature an OLED touchpad and USB-C connectivity.
But it seems the company will have to win some fans over first, because many aren’t happy about these changes.
One of the biggest complaints is Apple’s apparent switch to USB-C… and only USB-C. There are four ports — three more than the 12-inch MacBook has — but none of them are standard USB ports.
That means MacBook Pro owners are going to need to pick up a number of adapters to plug in existing devices, like their iPhone, digital camera, and external display.
“USB-C is just not ready for prime time at the moment and is an all-stop for upgrading to the new MacBook Pro series,” says Cult of Mac readers James Ala. “There are just too many peripherals that do not play nice, or at all with this new standard.”
Ala isn’t the only MacBook Pro fan who laments the potential lack of standard USB ports on the new machine; plenty of others believe that we’re just not ready for USB-C to become the only port we rely on for everything just yet.
Photo: Cult of Mac
“Only USB C is ridiculous now,” says Eric Xu on Facebook. “No power user want a dangling line of adapters.”
Some fans are also unhappy that Apple could be swapping the MacBook Pro’s existing keyboard for 12-inch MacBook’s, which uses the company’s thinner butterfly switches that have a little less travel.
“We don’t need the Butterfly keys, we already have the best keyboards!” says José Abraham Cervantes Posadas.
so the next macbook pro is rumored to only have USB type c ports with butterfly keys…. what the fuck is apple doing?!
— nyko (@nyk0_) June 1, 2016
But that OLED touchpad, which will sit above the MacBook Pro’s physical keys and provide useful functions that you will probably be able to customize, will be enough to make up for these things, right?
Apparently not. Some aren’t even excited about that!
“I’m worried an OLED function bar display, with its perfect blacks, will only make the actual retina display look like garbage,” writes Jeff, another Cult of Mac reader. “Glass touchpad, glass OLED bar…plastic keys?”
Others point out that not having a physical escape key could be a problem — especially if the OLED touchpad crashes when OS X is acting up — and they note that the existing physical function keys can be customized with third-party software.
However, there are plenty of MacBook Pro users in the opposing camp, who couldn’t be more enthused about the rumored upgrades — including Apple’s apparent decision to go all in on USB-C for a second time.
“USB-C will be all over the place shortly, you’re going to have to accept that sooner or later,” writes fastasleep. “I know people hate change but if Apple didn’t lead with stuff like this we’d still be crashing our computers by unplugging our ADB keyboards.”
“Yep USB-C is definitely the wave of the future,” adds Ryan Villanueva.
What are your thoughts on these MacBook Pro leaks? Are you excited about the OLED touchpad, pissed you’re losing useful ports, or disappointed that this redesign doesn’t appear to be any slimmer than the existing MacBook Pro?
Take our poll below and let us know!
Apple is making major changes to the MacBook Pro. Is it a huge mistake?https://t.co/Qk9BOaoxIC
— Cult of Mac (@cultofmac) June 2, 2016
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
102 responses to “Fans aren’t happy with Apple’s changes for the 2016 MacBook Pro”
The level of absurdity here is off-the-charts. “Some fans” aren’t happy with changes a) that have no basis in any announcement from Apple; b) ostensibly they haven’t seen; and c) that they have no idea when such “changes” might be made. Are we really that desperate for click-bait?
Yes, we are. I’ve been trying to avoid all stories on the new Pro’s but read this article in a moment of weakness.
Yes. Yes we are that desperate. It has been half a friggin decade.
Are we ever happy with the changes, except when the dump a new CPU into the computers or increase the RAM. Hell no. They discontinued the 17″ which pissed off a lot of people and then invested in a 15″ which has a shitty antenna for WiFi. Of course were not going to like anything they do since they are getting skinnier and harder to fix and everything soldered on to the mother board and then there the apps that they don’t fix on the MAC OSX that should have been updated years ago but they would rather introduce new apps that are almost totally useless for the common joe.
At the moment, no one has used these features on a ‘released’ Macbook Pro; why don’t we reserve our opinions after some of you have a chance to play with these features and then write here?
We have a lot of history with similar leaks. We didn’t connect to the internet for the first time yesterday…
People also lost their shit over switching from 30-pin cable to Lightning a few years back but now it’s ubiquitous. It’ll be fine, people. Calm the hell down.
I’m still waiting for Apple to put the floppy drives back into new Macs.
That’s 1.4MB of storage per floppy disk that I do not have access to!
Actually i would prefer to a a single side 5.25 floppy.
And an 8-track tape player too
After reading this article and some of the ranting comments, I tried to remember the last time I used one of the USB ports on my rMBP. The most recent time that immediately came to mind was on a business trip in November 2014.
You’re saying you didn’t connect a flash drive or a cellphone or an MP3 player or a printer or… anything in the last year and a half???
Ok, glad you survived. I don’t know what’s your work but I don’t know a single software developer, photographer, video editor, journalist, designer, business analyst, even lawyers that don’t use a flash drive at least once a month.
I *do* use current USB ports, but as a designer & photographer, I don’t use any of your examples.
Flash drive? There’s Google Drive/iCloud/Dropbox etc for that
Cellphone? What for? To charge it? I guess I might do very rarely
MP3 player? Is this 2003?
Printer? They’re all wireless, home and office
Also, almost every single comment (save the odd exception) keeps missing the main point that USB-C *is* USB. Sure, you’ll need a new USB-A to USB-C cable to connect an older peripheral, but that’s no big deal. Don’t see why most items would need a dongle even.
So photographers tell their wedding clients — just go download those 200 photos from Dropbox to your own hard drive then copy them to your own USB to share. Or re-upload them to your own Dropbox. Lather , rinse, repeat.
Sure I’ll just airdrop all those images to my iPhone.
Sync my playlist via iCloud to my music library. It’s way faster than a USB cable, right?
“Sure I’ll just airdrop all those images to my iPhone.” In TIFF format no less. Won’t that be a barrel of laughs.
I don’t understand people continuing to deliberately miss the point – if you want to transfer a pile of TIFFs between your Mac and phone (for whatever weird reason) then you’d use a cable the same as now presumably. The cable will be slightly different to the one you use today because it’ll have a different connector on one end. The world won’t stop turning and no kittens will die though. I genuinely don’t understand the upset over this.
The point is that cable does not exist right now. To paraphrase Microsoft mad man Steve Balmer — support, support, support — there is very little of it and what there is isn’t pro level. Not having a single USB-3 port is a big FU to legacy devices and the people who use them.
But they *do* exist – they’ve existed for months and years because USB-C isn’t brand new and is in use by lots of devices already. I’ve just looked on Amazon and even just one single company sell cables and adaptors for every kind of port that I could think of in current use.
And why do people keep saying there will be ‘not a single’ USB3 port? Rumours are there’ll be 4 of them… USB-C *is* USB…!! It just needs a new cable, which are currently for sale at a shop near you.
This really isn’t much different to when USB2 came out, or USB3…. it’s a newer, faster version of USB that’s entirely backwards-compatible with previous versions, *except* that the socket is different and so needs new cables. But the socket is better as it’s reversible and much much smaller, so will allow much thinner laptops.
And, way more importantly, it also allows video and more power in the same cable, so all the other various ports can be replaced too with this tiny new one. People need to take a deep breath and actually just think about how bad this really is – which is not very at all.
I’m not saying these use cases don’t exist, I was just replying to the comment that the previous poster didn’t know a single person who didn’t do all those things. Well, I’m one and I know many more.
The point is though that things will change with the changes – they already make USB sticks with both USB-A and USB-C connectors, announced in the last couple of days. So long before this rumoured laptop has even been seen by human eyes, one of the main complaints has already been addressed.
As for environments with old kit, sure, that’s a thing – but USB-C supports VGA in exactly the same was as all the current connectors and their predecessors did – with some kind of cable or adaptor. It won’t make anything worse, just speed up the improvements for the future.
Seriously though, you sync a playlist from iTunes to your phone? Fair play, but I haven’t done that for about 5 years, and I own 600 CDs! :)
Printer is wireless, smartphone and tablet syncs to the cloud, backup drive is connected via WIFI, keyboard and mouse use Bluetooth, two large 4K monitors connected to laptop via Thunderbolt / mini-display port, all of my documents, photos, and videos are stored in the cloud and shared via the cloud, haven’t used a DVD reader/writer in years, …
A lot of places, a lot of offices and lots of working environments aren’t good to go full wireless. Right now I’m a freelancer but I used to work in a bunch of places where everything was wired because security reasons. Maybe a little hyperbole? Not so much, it’s pretty easy to control one client traffic but it’s hell to control 200+ devices traffic per floor.
I do have mini display port monitors, that connector is going away also (look at the pictures again). I also have my personal phone sync to the cloud but my development devices (Android and iOS developer) are more easy to connect with cords.
My mouse is Bluetooth but charges over USB, my external keyboard is USB.
DVD? Yeah, I don’t use them either.
All I’m saying is lots of work places aren’t ready to go full type C. I’m one isolated developer who could dodge the bullet, since my setup is ONLY mine but offices working with hundreds of machines and thousands of peripherals? Places where wifi is not so ubiquitous either for security reasons or for convenience?
I never said it is optimal for everyone in every environment; I just shared my personal experience. Your mileage may vary….
But USB *is* Type-C. So you use a new cable. Nobody’s not ready to use a new cable, it’s easy.
Most of my transfers these days are wireless, because 2016 happened. But at work my MBP is connected to a monitor or projector from MiniDP-VGA via an adaptor. If my MBP had USB-C ports instead of MiniDP then I’d use a USB-C-VGA adaptor instead. Yes, somebody (not me in this case, but it could be) will have to actually buy this cable. Some money will have to be spent. But once that’s over with, the physical situation will be exactly the same – there’ll be a laptop, an old monitor and a cable with an adaptor between the two.
The only difference is that I’ll be able to plug it into any one of 4 ports instead of a specific one, and that everything in the near future will be a lot easier because almost all connectors are being merged into one. But for now, it’ll all be identical. So that makes everything absolutely fine – I in no way see how it’d stop me buying the new laptop.
Must be nice to have all that bandwidth and unlimited data. Not everyone can be tied to the cloud.
Works very well for me…
This is a productivity machine, not a damn phone. USB didn’t change its form factor for almost two decades so there are a lot of people who have dozens upon dozens of USB devices. For a lot of us is simply impossible to change all those devices overnight.
And they’re also taking away the mini DisplayPort and the HDMI apparently. And the Magsafe. And where is the SD card slot? They are taking away all the ports. ALL. OF. THEM.
I’m a developer and I have sitting on my desk: two USB 3.0 external drives, a mechanical USB 2.0 keyboard, a bluetooth mouse which is charged over USB 2/3, a USB 3.0 hub (I use it mostly because the hard drives need high power USBs), an external LCD (mini Display Port), four or five USB thumb drives, a couple of cellphones and tablets (USB 2/3) which I use for software development/testing.
And those are the things sitting on my desk, AKA “work things”.
Personal non-work things? I have a personal phone that’s also USB 3.0. A couple of bluetooth dongles and headphones that are charged over USB. A Nikon reflex camera (D5100) which pictures I transfer either USB 2.0 or using the SD card slot. A big number of USB thumb drives lying around that I permanently use to exchange files among friends/family/between computers (also the USB thumb drives my friends/family already use). An Arduino Uno to develop DIY projects and fool around with electronics (and then a bunch of other Arduinos to include in the actual projects, all of them programmable over USB). Also printers and scanners.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not an old guy complaining about everything. When they decided to take away the DVD drive I was 100% agree. When Apple killed the Firewire I didn’t have a lot to complain because there weren’t a lot of Firewire peripherals, much less that I personally had. Soldered RAM, battery, etc? Yes, I complained a little but not a lot, I don’t change components inside my laptops anyway. When Apple stopped using floppy disks I wasn’t a Mac user at that moment but I thought they were right.
But as I said USB didn’t change for a long long looong time so it’s literally everywhere… It’s too big to kill it in less than two years. More when the place where you are killing it is in a “pro” machine.
Apple seems to have changed its target demographic from developers and content producers to tween’s and instagram-tech-bros since Cook took over,
affirmative
There is a huge difference between a smart phone and a laptop, especially for some of us. Not having an option for USB3 or Firewire is deal killer for me. I’ve got too many external drives daisy chained to firewire to make the jump to USB-C anything but painful. How am I to offload photos; where is my external monitor supposed to connect to? What am I to do with my DAC? My Mechanical Keyboard what am to do with that? I’ve got a lot of stuff and none of it is getting onboard this wonderful future of Apple’s. There is nothing out there, at all, for someone who needs a serious USB-3 hub. There are just these ridiculous dongles that support two ports. And even if Apple deigns to provide a Thunderbolt port or two it means I’m coughing up $200.00 to $300.00 to to get back a semblance of what I had before. That is on top of an already pricy Retina. I’m paying a lot more for a future that is not here yet; a future that has very spotty support.
Oh, and I am still not too happy about the 30 pin, yanking that interfaced bricked a perfectly good iHome alarm clock. Should have just gone with the Sony.
A quick protip: There are some very nice USB-c hubs on Amazon.
Monoprice has USB-c to USB cables, so your old hub will work fine with a $5 cable swap.
Also, that 30-pin was in place longer than the European Micro-USB mandate – the mandate to the obsolescence of micro-b was only about six years, whereas 30 pin had an 11 year run.
Not to say that it doesn’t sting, and I have an Elevation Dock I refuse to “upgrade” to Lightning because the new kit lacks line-out – I’ll just use the old iPod Touch as a living-room jukebox for now, I guess – but while not all change is progress, all progress is change.
TL;dr: Monoprice has dirt-cheap adapters to save your old gear.
I’ve looked at USB-c hubs and am not impressed. I would have to hub a hub to support what I have now, damn foolish. And a cable solution is not what I want because I already own a bed of snakes with my present set up, cables everywhere. One freaking USB-3 port out of the four, is that so much to ask for? I can grit my teeth and dongle out the firewire but I won’t be happy about it.
I love my Macs. I was bummed they dropped the 17″ MBP. USB-C was a major let down for the new MacBook. The fact they dumped Xserve was a major let down especially now they are well more adopted into data centers than they were before. I will probably stop being a fan if they drop Intel and start putting their chip in Macs.
I think dumping Xserver was a huge mistake.
The manufacturer of the chipset is about number 13 on the list of 10 things I base my laptop buying decisions on…or were you just being sarcastic and I missed it?
Not chipset. There was rumors of Apple dropping the Intel i7 and i5 CPUs and then Apple putting in their own A8 processor. That would mean goodbye to running other OSes efficiently in a Virtual Machine on your Mac.
thx for clarification. I have no idea what the annual unit sales of Parallels et al are. I wonder if the market segment is big enough for Apple to care about (assuming they don’t build “intel emulation” into their A8 if that’s feasible).
SSSSHHHHHHHHHHH!! Don’t give them ideas!! I need my VMs!!
Not surprised. When the “MacBook” only had USB-C, the writing was on the wall the other models would follow. If you absolutely needs USB ports, run out and grab a current model or get the adapter.
Well I for one think they should just keep putting out the exact same laptop over and over again. I mean why on earth would anyone want change
Change is good. Change is great even. Overnight changes in business environments (which aren’t flexible at all) aren’t so amazing. Seeing how the 100% of your work setup becomes useless in less than a second must be a very depressing moment.
If “100% of your work setup becomes useless in less than a second” then perhaps either you are living in the past or are ready to make the switch to Microsoft, which “must be a very depressing moment.”
I’m a single developer punching code at my house. But other people work in huge enterprise environments. Try to reach some IT guy in a big software company and ask him what he thinks.
That guy probably won’t give two shits about it. All developers know shit changes, and for the better. You probably hated it when retina screens were released for MBPs, probably made everything seww seww blurry, wahh :,( :,(
The Retina display wasn’t a big problem. Some IDEs took a while to get “crispy text” editors.
like the iPhone then lol
A ‘Super User’ or a ‘Pro User’, is by definition the one that has access to ‘all features’. This implies FLEXIBILITY, to be able to do that exactly. I am amazed at how Apple ‘perceives’ this definition; by limiting the ‘PRO’ part of the MacBook to whatever they think will be the requirement from now on.
The MacBook Pro (especially the Retina version) has been an spectacular product so far, because it delivers the best of many worlds: Best class construction, extremely powerful, incredible display, and highly rated among user users, because it features all the ports currently in use by many different user levels. The only port missing would be the USB-C, but that doesn’t mean all the other ports currently present must be replaced by ONLY usb-c.
If what this article talks about becomes a reality, Apple will prove once again they are losing their sight of the ‘best computing experience’ they used to deliver to many levels, and will allow other brands to claim that place for sure. This will be disastrous.
These USB C are
– Thunderbolt
– HDMI
– DisplayPort
– USB
– PCIe
– charge
– network
All in one
Thunderbolt 3 (USB C) is the best Pro Port ever
Yes but you have to buy different dongles to accomplish all those adapters.
*Cables* not dongles. It’s just those things added together in one cable.
when you add all the cluttering adapters needed to make it actually work the way you make it sound
Now many monitors use the type C (dell, LG, Samsung, Asus), You have to buy an USB A/SD adapter for the first 1 or 2 years, after that all hardware will have USB C/Thunderbolt onboard, it’s the future of connections
Classic “wrong side of history” answer. They lead the way in forcing new standards and phasing out the old. Everything will be just fine.
“Everything will be just fine.”
Yes, eventually. But in the meantime a huge amount of pro users will suffer so much and will need to waste a lot of money (and I mean A LOT of money) and probably time too.
A ‘Super User’ or a ‘Pro User’, is by definition the one that has access to ‘all features’. This implies FLEXIBILITY, to be able to do that exactly. I am amazed at how Apple ‘perceives’ this definition; by limiting the ‘PRO’ part of the MacBook to whatever they think will be the requirement from now on.
The MacBook Pro (especially the Retina version) has been a spectacular product so far, because it delivers the best of many worlds: Best class construction, extremely powerful, incredible display, and highly rated among super users, because it features all the ports currently in use by many different user levels. The only port missing would be the USB-C, but that doesn’t mean all the other ports currently present must be replaced by ONLY usb-c.
If what this article talks about becomes a reality, Apple will prove once again they are losing their sight of the ‘best computing experience’ they used to deliver to many levels, and will allow other brands to claim that place for sure. This will be disastrous.
Bingo!
I was content with the removal of the CD drive because CDs were already phased out by the time they removed them (or at least close to it) as the much better USB flash drive and online/cloud technology rose.
USB 2.0 and up are still in strong use today, so suddenly taking away the still-popular standard it going to cause an uprise. It was kind of different with the switch to lightening ports over 30 pin mainly because it was Apple’s own standard to begin with and only affected a small set of Apple and third party products. USB 2.0+ is still a widely used international standard and is shipped with a practically any type of device you can name within the last decade or so. I have a few doubts but I’m curious as to where this will, after all, the industry likes to play follow the leader.
Right now I’m pretty pissed that there isn’t a rumored built-in Nespresso maker with the new MacBook Pro — #boycottApple!
same people who were pissed about going to lightning from 30-pin connector… what’s the big deal? Get an adaptor or buy a brand new USB-C flash drive for $20…
Do you have any idea how many stupid adaptors this is going to require for some? USB-C to Firewire, USB-C to USB-3, USB-C to HDMI and all of those ugly beasts dangling on the thing like remoras on a Great White Shark.
This is getting ridiculous. Killian Bell is driving me away from this site with his nonsense.
I don’t like some of the changes either, but just give me something!!! Not another 3 to 6 months of waiting. We are being played. JB
If the iPhone is truly ing to lightening connector for headphones, then the MacBook should do the same.
Are you for real?
Look, I’m not sure switching to lightning connector for headphones on the iPhone is gonna happen or even if it is a good idea, only time will tell. However, whatever connector my iPhone uses for headphones would preferably be the same on my laptop so I don’t have to deal with adapters. That’s all I’m saying….
I get it, but many people have a Macbook Pro and don’t have an iPhone.
Surely they can design very thin new version of the MagSafe adapter – I know who people who have already damaged their MacBooks due to the lack of a power adapter that just pops off the computer when jerked/stepped on.
Yeah, I hope we don’t lose MageSafe.
I really can’t believe they would abandon such a useful piece of tech, especially on a pro model of such a popular device. Not to mention losing the sd card slot (potential semi permanent storage expansion) or not including at least one standard USB port. I want options on my mobile dev machine, not a plethora of adapters, cables, and hubs.
Frankly speaking, I did not like the “Butterfly keys”. It’s like boobs which aren’t there. You press it but you feel nothing :|
I’m sure that OLED display will do some really cool shit besides display the common function keys. Just wait and see before you assume it’s stupid. People probably assumed features like Touch ID were useless at first and now look… it’s something we’ve all grown so used to and enjoy.
Anyway, Apple tends to surprise us with crazy stuff, and one leaked image shows absolutely nothing about it’s actual functionality on the product itself. It’ll be cool, I’m sure. You don’t get paid enormous amounts of money and work on one of the best design teams on the planet to produce things that aren’t amazing.
Obamas fault
Any change is appreciated – especially if its faster, has better battery life, and looks better!
This is how apple are the richest company in the world, go buy something else and stop your whinging if your not happy thats what apples all about, propertiary plugs and adaptators are nothing new.
How apple ARE the richest?????? Whinging???? Propertiary plugs? Adaptators???
You are a very special boy, aren’t you???
One of the biggest fails by Apple over the past several years has been ignoring the needs of the creative professional community, most notably by discontinuing the 17-inch Macbook Pro. I would buy a sleek new 17-inch MBP over fancied-up 15-inch MBP with TouchID and a touchscreen (I have my iPad for that) ANY DAY.
I think a lot of people are getting more worked up than necessary. They’re not getting rid of USB, they’re using a new and highly improved connector that enable faster speeds and multiple protocols in one cable.
Yes, you’ll have to buy some new cables to connect older devices, and yes, they’ll probably a few quid/dollars to buy. But it’s no big deal.
Lots of people below seem to be complaining about peripherals being rendered useless etc. No. They’ll just need to be connected with a new cable.
A wide variety of differently-sized, differently-shaped and incompatible ports and cables being all replaced by one, smaller, double-sided, faster one? Terrible! The only issue with the Macbook was that there was only one of them. If there’s 4 then all’s good.
The only thing I’ll be sad about is losing the magnetic aspect of MagSafe. Replace the port itself with USB-C, excellent, but the magnetic part is genius and life-saving. Oh, and I’ll miss an SD card reader – that’s really the only non-port ‘port’ if you like that will actually require new hardware.
I want four things: A faster processor, more storage, a longer-lasting battery and a better display. I don’t care about OLED touchpads, a different keys, different plugs or other stuff that doesn’t make a real difference in my actual life.
I’m fine with the whole move over to USB-C. I can make that work for now and new stuff I buy will connect directly…. but why take out the SD card slot? I do actually use that often. It has been REALLY nice to be able to take my SD card out of my SLR and stick it directly in my mac.
Other than that, I can deal. It will be nice to be able to charge my computer from either side. Small win.
If this is another version of the rMB that’s fine. No one expects much from Apple’s version of a netbook. However, if this is really supposed to be a MacBook ‘Pro’ then it’s a real slap in the face. The entire reason you pay top dollar for a ‘PRO’ machine is because you’re willing to pay more for power and functionality, without having to buy a bucket of adapters to drag around. OLED is a gimmick that was removed from Thinkpads after only a year because it sucked so much. It may be time for Tim to go.
More recent rumor suggest 2 of the 4 ports will be USB 3.1 which would make more sense. But who knows ?
I can almost live with that. Though there is still the issue of Firewire support.
I still have USB 2.0 and FW drives with lots of content on them, and lots of space left. El Cap works fine on my 2009 MBP. Not sure the upgrade is worth it.
Here’s an idea, don’t give Apple your money, buy a product that meets your requirements rather than buying an overpriced machine and spending more money making it fit you and the way you work. There are many great laptops out there, and spending the same amount of money as your going to get with an entry level macbook will get you far more bang for your buck. Faster, more storage, more appropriate ports (USB, SD card etc). Personally I couldn’t care less who makes the machine I use if it gives me the features I need, I have used macbook pro’s, Windows machines and chromebooks.
I love Apples operating system, but for now they don’t have a product out there that meets my needs, so I use a Windows machine. If you don’t get what you want from Apples next laptop, don’t buy it, if enough of you stopped being lemmings and let Apple know that they should be designing products that work for you, not the other way around, they would soon get the hint!
Any change to the keyboard will drive me away from changing to a new computer. Especially if they get rid of the physical key. The new surface books look pretty good. If MS comes out with a 17″ Surface book: Bye Bye MBP.
What better way to force adoption of a new hardware standard than making it the only option on a popular device? Forcing change is more successful if you have an extremely loyal fan base. I doubt any mac “power user” is going to leave Apple because they have a new adapter to plug in.
Big picture here guys, big picture.
All Apple will do is have me clutching my old, faithful laptop until software upgrades make it useless.
Butterfly mechanism or not, key travel is important.I do also like a 4K display but no rumours support that feature.
Holy shit, we just want the damn thing released. People who complain about USB-C are going to suck it up, adapt and get over it, because what the hell else are you going to do, use a fucking windows? “Ermegerd I have to buy adapters and the magsafe isn’t on oh the humanity” People that complain, if they listen to your BS crys and push this thing back to fall or winter. i’m gonna….i’m gonna be super bummed out..
“That means MacBook Pro owners are going to need to pick up a number of adapters to plug in existing devices, like their iPhone, digital camera, and external display.”
Well, actually you’d probably replace the cables. Why use an USB/lightning cable and an USB/USB-C adapter when you can get an USB-C/lightning cable.
As with every transition, this is going to be very annoying. But at least it looks like this will be it for a while. 20 years of almost everything using the same cable would be worth it
Apple has got us used to the disappearance of ports. Unlike my fellow Win users I always have to carry with me a video adaptor when I give a talk, a USB-ethernet adaptor for my office (that is wired) etc. I’ll either by another set of adaptors, plus one for the SD cards, one for the USB sticks, another extra power adaptor etc. Or I will one day move on and get an ASUS windows that has all I need.
Technology gets better! Why don’t people understand that updating ports to a better, faster and more durable iteration will always happen! If it didn’t we would still live with PS2 keyboards and Serial connectors. USB-C can replace most of our peripherals
But I don’t need to replace my peripherals, they are working just fine.
there is a reason for 2011 version MBP to still be a good selling product, we’ll see.
i have 7 things plugged into my 2009 mbp right now (which is upgradable, not soldered). Looks like I will never buy a Mac again :/
I replaced my Apple IIe with an original Mac in 1984 and have had a series of desktops, laptops iPads and iPhone since then. But the latest “innovations” seem weirdly out of character with the historic Apple ethos. The initiative does not seem to be with Apple any more. I hope my mid-2010 MacBook Air continues to operate for a while, because there is nothing new in the lineup that tempts me.
We’re taking abot Pro laptops right? Do the target demographic need simplified and less functional keyboards? Do we need to slow down and contractly look at our keyboards to see which keys we are typing? Does removing the ESC key improve my ability to use vim? Do I need my keyboard to be more mushy?
People are afraid of change, is simple as that, we already have A LOT os USB-C stuff, external har drives, celphones, monitors, DACs, even docs with all the normal ports people love so much, USB-C is the future. Don’t whant adapters? buy a micro USC to USB-C cable, there are plenty on amazon…
Who said we were afraid of change? I just object to a change that has spotty to no support. I have yet to see anything in USB-C land that supports multiple interfaces. No four or seven port hubs of any kind. At present this “Pro” machine is sorely lacking options for power users. Granted this most likely means I personally move to an iMac, unless that gets screwed up as well too. But not keeping at least one USB-3 port is criminally foolish.
The loss of the MagSafe is sad though.
That’s nice, but what am I to do with all the wired devices I own now? And have you ever tried to pair a Sony digital camera with a Mac? It’s not a user-friendly experience. I hope they keep the SD Slot because with wireless lies madness in Sony land.
I purchased a new MBP 13 Retina about a week ago. I guessed that the next new MBP would have several USB C / Thunderbolt 3 ports, be thinner, and have a few new teaks. I got a great deal on my MBP. In addition, I do like having the MagSafe power supply, a good built-in keyboard, and standard USB 3 connectors. Clearly, we don’t know exactly what the new MBP will look like. With Apple, you end up having to purchase a new MBP every 3-4 years to stay pretty current, two years to stay very current. So, you can never “win”. Between getting a new iPhone every year, getting an iPad ever 2 years, and getting a MBP every 3 years, I do allocate a good deal of $ to Apple products.
I may end up getting a MacBook in a year or two to have a ultralight MAC and use my MBP as a Desktop – I have two Thunderbolt hubs connected to it and drive two external 30 inch monitors at the moment.
I don’t care about a matter of time, I’m concerned with right now. Apple is putting out a device that has no backwards compatibility. Why would I buy that? Why is Apple forcing me to buy more gear just to use their new “professional” device? A professional device should support, well, professionals, people who have a collection of devices with a collection of inputs. The present professional device does that with firewire, thunderbolt, and USB-3. But for a nothing more than a design decision to make the laptop slimmer and wiegh a few oz. less all of that was thrown away for a “one size fits all” “solution” of USB-c. And as in clothing, one size fits all is an oxymoron, that is a contradiction in terms.
The future is not here yet, and it is incumbent on a manufacturer to support the installed base, that is the past. Apple is essentially tossing up a big middle finger to those users and that installed base.
The decision to go USB-c with the MacBook was barely justified, the tiny terror is a roadwarrior / coffee shop commando device. Ultraportables have always been a compromise. But to jam USB-c down the throats of 13in and 15in users, many who use their laptops as a desktop replacement is just wrong.